Surry Family Health Center May Soon Close

March 09, 1989|By ANDY PARKER Staff Writer

SURRY — The modern medical facility that local officials once hoped would meet the medical needs of Surry and surrounding counties may soon be closing its doors after the Surry Board of Supervisors decided not to buy it.

Rejecting the advice of County Administrator Terry Lewis, the board voted 3-2 Tuesday not to buy the insolvent Surry Family Health Center, which is $64,000 in the red, including missed mortgage payments and taxes.

Thomas Hardy, chairman of the board of directors of the financially troubled center, said that because of the county's rejection, the Farmers Home Administration may soon begin foreclosure proceedings so it can auction off the property.

Last month the supervisors followed Lewis' recommendation and agreed to lend the non-profit health center $64,000 to pay off the debt and also agreed to guarantee the center's mortgage payments for the next 24 months. But Lewis also recommended that the county buy the building for $277,000 and lease it back to the two-member board of directors of the Surry Family Health Group, which currently operates the center.

Hardy said the health group may now refuse to accept the supervisors' $64,000 bail-out offer since the county is unwilling to buy the building.

The board's decision not to buy the 9-year-old building came at a special meeting called to give the board members a better understanding of the center's past problems and current financial status. Some of the administrative problems at the health center included:

* The center has not been fully staffed since 1982 and is not being used by any doctors currently.

* None of the center's $2,400 monthly mortgage payments has been met in 14 months.

* The center is currently falling about $1,200 short of its monthly financial needs.

* Accounts receivable records demonstrate that outstanding payments owed by the medical center's clients reached a high of almost $80,000 at one point during the past nine years.

* $10,000 in personal property and real estate taxes has been left unpaid by the center over the past nine years.

* The center's accounts have not been audited for several years.

* No one has filed the proper forms to declare the center's tax-exempt status in several years.

Jacques Meyers IV, a local developer, served as the center's administrator from 1982 through last year. As late as last October, Meyers asserted the health center was in sound financial shape and paying all its bills. He resigned from both his administrative position and the center's board of directors in January.

The only remaining member of the center's administrative staff is a secretary.

Lewis suggested last month the county buy the building to maintain local control of the first-rate medical facility. The building currently houses the Surry Health Department and a mental health clinic. It would cost the county as much as $300,000 to build a facility to house the health department, Lewis argued.

Following the vote against the purchase, Thomas Hardy told the board members they should start looking for a new place to house the health department.

The medical center was built in 1980 with a $450,000 loan from Farmers Home. The building was designed to hold three genEral practitioners as well as a part-time optometrist and dentist.

Supervisors Sherlock Holmes, Edward Johns and Charles Savedge voted against the purchase of the medical center while Walter Hardy and Ray Peace voted in favor of it.

Bruce Behringer, executive director of an association that advises and respresents 27 of Virginia's 30 rural medical centers, said he has never been contacted by Surry officials concerning the operation of the medical center. Behringer said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he would be happy to come to Surry and discuss the options available for the continued operation of the medical center.